by Iris Vander Pluym

ABOUT

Iris Vander Pluym is an artist and activist in NYC (West Village), and an unapologetic, godless, feminist lefty. Raised to believe Nice Girls™ do not discuss politics, sex or religion, it turns out those are pretty much the only topics she ever wants to talk about. Also: squirrels.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed an executive order banning all non-essential state travel to North Carolina. The order requires all New York State agencies, departments, boards and commissions to immediately review all requests for state funded or state sponsored travel to the state of North Carolina, and bar any such publicly funded travel that is not essential to the enforcement of state law or public health and safety.

The ban, which takes effect immediately, follows North Carolina’s enactment of a law which bars transgender individuals from using restrooms appropriate for their gender identities, excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from state anti-discrimination protections, and prohibits municipalities from extending those protections to LGBT citizens.

“In New York, we believe that all people – regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation – deserve the same rights and protections under the law,” said Governor Cuomo. “From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past. As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential state travel to that state.”

In 2015, Governor Cuomo banned non-essential state travel to the state of Indiana after that state’s legislature passed a controversial religious freedom measure that did not prohibit discrimination against LGBT citizens. The Indiana measure was later amended to prevent it from being used to discriminate against LGBT residents and travelers in Indiana, and that travel ban was lifted.

More than 80 tech company CEOs—including those from Facebook, Lyft, Google, Dropbox, and Tumblr—sent an open letter (pdf) yesterday to North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory, urging repeal. And the state’s Attorney General—a Democrat who is running for governor—says he will refuse to defend the law against court challenges, calling it “a national embarrassment.”

NC state AG Cooper, who’s presently running for governor, is refusing to defend this sack of horseshit bill against the ACLU on the grounds that it’s unconstitutional, calling it “a national embarrassment.”

I am a lifelong North Carolina resident, and I consider myself a progressive. There are a lot of people like me who are disgusted with the republican bigots in Raleigh. I only hope that everyone shows their disgust by tossing McCrory and as many of his cronies as possible out on their asses in November. The problem is that there are still a lot of people in the state who hold the same views as their bigoted representatives. We constantly have to try dragging them kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

This bill is not only bad for LGBT individuals though. It is bad for women, minorities, and veterans as well. Those problems haven’t been publicized as widely, but they should be. It is truly a piece of legislative abomination.